A jury left a Michigan courtroom on Wednesday to start discussing whether James Crumbley, the father of a school shooter, is guilty of involuntary manslaughter for not properly securing the gun his son used.
Prosecutor Karen McDonald advised the 12-member jury to find Crumbley guilty in her closing statements, saying that he missed clear opportunities to prevent his son from killing four students at Oxford High School on Nov. 30, 2021, The Associated Press (AP) reported.
In addition to facing involuntary manslaughter charges, Crumbley, 47, has been accused of not safely securing the gun his son Ethan used and failing to seek help for his son's mental distress.
Crumbley and his wife, Jennifer, met with the school to discuss a troubling drawing Ethan had done on a math assignment. Instead of taking him home, the parents left the school and made DoorDash deliveries while the shooting took place, McDonald said.
When news of the shooting began to spread, Crumbley urgently called 911 and said the gun he had bought four days earlier was missing, expressing concern that his son could be the shooter, the AP reported.
“There were 1,800 students at Oxford High School,” McDonald said. “There was one parent who suspected their son was a school shooter, and it was James Crumbley. You know what that’s called? That’s called foreseeability.”
Investigators revealed that a cable to lock the Sig Sauer 9 millimeter handgun was still in its packaging. In early November 2021, Ethan Crumbley wrote in his journal that he needed mental health help, but his parent’s “don’t listen to me so I can’t get any help.”
Previous court filings depicted a turbulent household, where Ethan Crumbley was often left to himself while his parents allegedly drank or fought.
Jurors learned Ethan Crumbley had told a friend he was experiencing insomnia and paranoia. He told his father about it, who “gave me some pills and told me to ‘Suck it up,’” NBC News reported Ethan Crumbley saying.
Defense attorney Mariell Lehman said Crumbley didn’t know his son knew where to find the gun. She noted that school staff didn’t think the teen was an immediate threat to others.
A jury found Jennifer Crumbley guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter in February. In December, Ethan Crumbley, now 17, was sentenced to multiple life sentences without parole.
The Crumbleys are the first parents in the U.S. to be charged with having criminal responsibility for a mass school shooting, the AP reported.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
